“In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following. But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance. For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.” (1 Timothy 4:6-10 NASB’95)
These were Paul’s instructions to Timothy, a man of God, who
was in a position of spiritual authority within the church. So all of this is
not going to apply to all of us, although I believe much of it will, based off
other Scriptures which were written to the church, the body of Christ, overall.
For God pours out his Spirit on all of his children, male and female, and all
of us are given gifts of the Spirit, and we are all to be encouraging and
exhorting one another and speaking the truth in love to one another in the church.
Now, biblically speaking, women are not to be in positions
of authority over men, and we are not to be those who instruct (teach) men as
if in positions of authority over them. I believe there may be exceptions to
this, such as a single woman missionary on the mission field, or when there are
no biblically qualified men to fill the positions, which, in truth, I believe
there are few biblically qualified men today. So many have gone the way of the
world and are altering the gospel and are approving of sinful practices.
But there are ways in which the Lord can use women to do
some of these things without them being in authority over anyone, such as what
the Lord has been having me do about 21 years now. For I can write down what he
is teaching me from his word each day, and I can post these writings on the
internet, and both men and women can read them if they want to, but no man is
being forced to read what the Lord has me post, and I am not in authority over
anyone, male or female. So people read or don’t by choice.
So, in these writings, I can point out the same things that
Paul told Timothy to point out, but without specifically instructing, teaching,
or ruling over anyone. And the first things Timothy was to point out had to do
with the later times in which some will fall away from (depart from, abandon)
true biblical faith in the Lord Jesus, because they are listening to the
hypocrisy of liars with seared consciences teaching what is of deceitful
spirits and doctrines of demons. We all need to guard ourselves against these.
But pointing out what the Scriptures teach in contrast to
the lies is something that all of us should be doing, male or female. All of us
are assigned specific roles within the universal body of Christ, and are given
gifts of the Spirit to be used within the body of Christ to encourage and to
strengthen one another, and to warn one another against deceitful liars who are
manipulating the Scriptures by teaching them out of context to make them say
what they don’t say if taught in context.
And we should all be sharing the truth of the gospel, and
not the lies which are so popular, with the people of the world and with the
worldly church, under the authority of God, and where we are given permission
to speak. And we should be telling all who will listen that Jesus died on that
cross, not just to forgive sins, but to deliver us out of our slavery
(addiction) to sin. And he was resurrected from the dead in victory over sin,
death, hell, and Satan, so that we might now live holy and godly lives,
pleasing to him.
For we are not saved from our sins and headed to heaven just
on the basis of lip service only. According to the Scriptures, faith, which is
of God, should result in us dying with him to sin and walking in obedience to
his commands, in his power and strength. Our lives are now to be surrendered to
the Lord, to doing his will, and no longer should be given over to sinful
pleasures. For if sin is what we practice, and not obedience to God, then we do
not have salvation from sin and eternal life with God guaranteed.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John
6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1
Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32;
Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 12:1-2;
1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]
Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer
Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897
Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897
Oh,
to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This
is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly
I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus,
Thy perfect likeness to wear.
Oh,
to be like Thee! full of compassion,
Loving,
forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping
the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking
the wandering sinner to find.
O
to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy
and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly
enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing
to suffer others to save.
O
to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour
out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
Make
me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit
me for life and Heaven above.
Oh,
to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd
Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come
in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp
Thine own image deep on my heart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg
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Godly Discipline
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